The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus such as a digital camera or a video camera, and more particularly to an image pickup apparatus which has a function of displaying a guide image for manual focusing.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-156823 discloses a focus detection method in autofocusing of the image pickup apparatus. According to this focus detection method, a pixel group for focus detection is discretely disposed in an image generation pixel group of an image pickup element, and a light flux from an image pickup optical system is divided (pupil division) by a microlens disposed in the front of the focus detection pixel group to form a pair of object images on the focus detection pixel group. A defocus amount of the image pickup optical system is obtained by detecting a phase difference between the pair of object images.
Each of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2001-309210 and 2005-080093 discloses an image pickup apparatus which displays a guide image (focus guide image) for supporting a manual focusing operation when a user performs manual focusing.
In the image pickup apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-309210, a focus guide image equivalent to a split image frequently employed for an optical viewfinder of a film camera is electronically generated to be displayed on an electronic viewfinder. In the image pickup apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-080093, in an out-of-focus state, a double image corresponding to a defocus amount of an image pickup optical system is generated from a single image obtained by using an image pickup element to be displayed as a focus guide image on an electronic viewfinder.
However, in the image pickup apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-309210, as a focus guide image, the image equivalent to the split image indicating a situation of left-and-right shifting of upper and lower parts of an object is displayed in a part of a normal display image. In this case, unless accustomed to using the split image to a certain extent, a user may find it difficult to perform manual focusing quickly and accurately.
In the image pickup apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-080093, if the image pickup apparatus is not focused in an object targeted for focusing, another object on which the image pickup apparatus is focused may be superimposed to be displayed. Consequently, a user may find it difficult to quickly determine in which of a close direction and an infinity direction he should perform a manual focusing operation for the object targeted for focusing.